- 5 weeks ago
Magic City An American Fantasy S01 Episode 1
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00:00The first time I was in Magic City...
00:29The first time I went...
00:30When I first got to Magic City...
00:33My jaw dropped.
00:35I'm talking about like a $30,000 ring.
00:39I'm talking like a $50,000 ring.
00:41The environment, the aura, the vibe...
00:44It was like something out of a movie.
00:54I don't remember my first time. You know how much marijuana I've smoked?
00:56I was a broke-ass rapper.
00:58Pussing bullshit weed.
01:00All my memories are so fond. It's like Cirque du Soleil. It's all joy.
01:04This is where all the big bosses and all the celebrities come.
01:08The first time I met Michael Jordan.
01:10Magic Johnson. This is a picture of me and Tupac.
01:14Everybody came to see the Magic City girls. You was the star.
01:20Magic City has the most beautiful black women out of all the clubs and everybody got their shit together.
01:26But...
01:27It's competition.
01:28Who the baddest bitch?
01:32Two months in, I made $100,000.
01:34Everybody's grinding to be the top girl.
01:38Magic City was this place for black people to flourish, black music to flourish.
01:46It wouldn't be Amigos without Magic City.
01:48The girls back then that I hung with, we were like sisters.
01:52Dancing is not an easy job.
01:54You're dealing with different people, smells, attitudes, perverts.
01:58Y'all kill you straight up. I'm always packing.
02:01We have to be a little crazy or we'll go insane.
02:06I had a lot of friends that get killed.
02:08It became dangerous.
02:10Something's about to take over.
02:11Gun violence hits a popular nightclub in downtown Atlanta.
02:14A murder outside Magic City.
02:16A guy tried to burn this club out.
02:18Police have arrested a total of four BMF members.
02:21That was the downward spiral.
02:23People don't know these things because...
02:25People are not supposed to see this.
02:28You're only supposed to experience it.
02:31Georgia.
02:35Georgia.
02:39Georgia.
02:43Georgia.
02:45We on the grindin'
02:46Georgia.
02:47All the time.
02:48It ain't nothin' on my mind but
02:50Georgia.
02:51We ain't playin' with you.
02:52We on the grindin'
02:53Georgia.
02:54All the time.
02:55It ain't nothin' on my mind but
02:57Georgia.
02:58We ain't playin' with you.
02:59Country names, country slang, fiends at the liquor store.
03:02Black cruising, crap shooting, 50 on the ten of four.
03:07Overcast the forecast shows clouds from plenty.
03:09And we ready for war in the state of Georgia.
03:12Georgia.
03:13Yeah!
03:14We're located here at the world-famous Magic City.
03:25I would ask you, do you have any guns, knife, hand grenades, C4 detonator, blast cap, dynamite switches?
03:31Or extend-o.
03:33Once you tell me no, we will move forward.
03:36You will go in and see the beautiful ladies on the inside, pay what they ask you to pay.
03:41And the magic begins.
03:42Period.
03:43Magic City has always been known as, like, creme de la creme when it comes to strip in Atlanta.
04:01It's been owned and operated by the same family.
04:04It's been in the same building.
04:06It's just Magic City is Magic City.
04:09I knew the club was named Magic City, but I didn't know that the owner himself was Mr. Magic.
04:14I had no idea.
04:18Mr. Magic is the boss, okay?
04:21He is daddy.
04:25Magic's like everybody's uncle.
04:27Smooth.
04:28No nonsense.
04:29Don't come into the club with no bullshit.
04:31Magic, the coolest motherfucker on planet Earth.
04:33He's a gentleman and a scholar.
04:35For us as dancers, he was like our father.
04:38He reminded me of my dad.
04:40He's a family man.
04:41He was the Casanova.
04:43He's good with the women.
04:44Charisma, the gift of gab.
04:47Magic is a gentleman gangster.
04:50But don't try him.
04:52Dude from Jersey.
04:58I'm Michael Barney, aka Mr. Magic.
05:07Born in Camden, New Jersey.
05:09I come from a family of seven.
05:11I dated Mike Senior in high school.
05:15Through college, he went to Duke University.
05:18And after he graduated, we got married.
05:21We both came from dysfunction.
05:24We wanted more for our kids when they grew up.
05:27To my mom one day, I'm packing up.
05:28I'm out of here.
05:29Put my little suitcase.
05:30I didn't have much back then.
05:32Threw it in a dodge coat.
05:36Rolled up out of there.
05:39I didn't want to move south.
05:40It was a stigma.
05:41The people weren't as progressive,
05:43and I don't want to be around that.
05:45That's not what I'm used to.
05:47I cried from New Jersey to Atlanta.
05:55Came to Atlanta.
05:56The guy introduced me to a job
05:58where you had to sell for commission over the telephone.
06:00You know there are telephone salespersons,
06:02no better qualified than yourself,
06:04earning well over $100,000 a year.
06:07So the more you sold, the bigger the checks.
06:10So I was amazed with that.
06:15And they couldn't beat me, so they used to say,
06:20he's magic.
06:21So that's where the name came from.
06:25He did well.
06:26Atlanta was a culture shock.
06:29I wasn't accustomed to being around
06:32so many affluent Afro-Americans.
06:35You know, Atlanta's always just been this great place to dream,
06:38and then you can look around and you can see it become a reality.
06:42You think about Atlanta and the civil rights movement.
06:45Dr. King, Dr. Abernathy, Ambassador Young.
06:48Come together as one nation without violence.
06:52And then here comes Maynard Jackson.
06:54Atlanta literally is on a roll,
06:56is on the brink of setting an example for the rest of the world.
06:59Maynard Jackson was the first African-American mayor of Atlanta.
07:03Being the first black mayor is what you wish on your enemy, okay?
07:09He changed the way we expected to do business in our city.
07:14If we were putting money in a bank,
07:17he demanded that that bank have visible diversity, representation.
07:22Maynard directly said, you're going to do business with us
07:26or you're not going to do business.
07:27I want to see us culturally rich.
07:29It set a tone for a city that was really building itself as this black Mecca.
07:38In Atlanta, the dream is coming true.
07:44The dream is shining through.
07:47The team is coming through.
07:49I saw black excellence every day.
07:52It was normal.
07:53Everything I ever thought I wanted to do or liked or looked up to,
07:57I saw a black person doing well in that sphere.
08:01Atlanta's Black Hollywood.
08:03This is the first place I saw a black man driving a Bentley.
08:07He wasn't an entertainer.
08:08He damn sure didn't look like no athlete.
08:10He looked like he just fucking got off work.
08:13They could be a professor.
08:14They could be a doctor.
08:15They could be a lawyer.
08:17That was the most nut to make up that black world.
08:20Beautifulest thing I've ever seen in my life.
08:23Mr. The Magic has the foresight and insight
08:26to get in on what's happening in Atlanta.
08:29It has entrepreneurial advancement, but it also has the club.
08:40You know, I had never seen strip until I came there.
08:43I just was hanging out with some people,
08:45and one night they took me to the Foxy Lady.
08:48That was the first strip club I probably ever went in.
08:51Something captivated me in there.
08:53After my first experience, I used to put my suit and tie on
08:56and go up in there.
08:58I just started going by myself, just find the corner,
09:01and I tried to count the people, the beer bottles.
09:04Then I started going to the other clubs,
09:06trying to see the difference.
09:08There were other clubs in the city that were hood.
09:11Purple Onion, Montrez, Blue Flame.
09:15Cheetah probably was the best.
09:17And I started talking to the girls, asking about
09:20what do they think would make this place better.
09:22And then one day I seen a white guy come in,
09:25and he kept always coming, go behind the bar, get the money.
09:28And I kept saying, well, who is that?
09:30Man saw the way that other clubs were not valuing their talent.
09:34Mike always had an entrepreneurial spirit.
09:37At some point, he got the club idea.
09:48I used to see my vision.
09:50I could do one of these kind of clubs.
09:52All my love is all I have.
09:57And my dreams are very special.
10:01All my life I looked for you.
10:04And today my dreams come true.
10:07You're home, yeah, yeah.
10:11I'm riding around.
10:26I think I found a building before anything else came to fruition.
10:30Just a small bunch of people painting and trying to just get the door open.
10:36That was the first challenge.
10:38At the beginning when I opened Magic City, that strip was a slut.
10:41That's all they thought of it as, as sexual, drugs, and that.
10:46It started with one dancer.
10:48And they would go down to the hotel passing out flyers.
10:51One dancer.
10:52And maybe that first week or two, I was doing everything.
10:56I used to run up and do the music and serve the drink.
11:00It just started off like that.
11:02The 85 was rough.
11:05After I did the lease, I was broke.
11:07Everything else was bag-borrowing and stealing like that at that point in time.
11:14Everything I had in the world was tied up in there.
11:16Hard to make your wife understand that.
11:19He was leaning into the club business now, unbeknownst to me.
11:25I was like, you mean like a nightclub?
11:28And he said, yeah.
11:30I had no clue.
11:32I had no idea it was going to be a strip club.
11:36So when the grand opening came, he backs me into the club.
11:44He doesn't let me walk in face first.
11:47He said, close your eyes.
11:49So I'm thinking I'm going to be surprised.
11:51And I was.
11:53I'm going to sit you at the bar.
11:55Just want you to keep your eyes closed.
11:57Well, I couldn't.
11:58And the first thing I saw was this female with the most perfect backside I've ever seen in my whole life.
12:10And my eyes, I was like, Mike, she doesn't have any clothes on.
12:13He says, I know.
12:15Everything's going to be OK.
12:16He's trying to keep me calm.
12:18But I'm like, Mike.
12:19I said, she doesn't either.
12:25My mind was blown.
12:26I was trembling.
12:29I was angry.
12:30And he's standing in front of me and he's just trying to, he says, just believe me.
12:35This is all about the money.
12:42He opened a strip club right under my nose.
12:45I didn't like it.
12:46I didn't appreciate it because they're coming up to him and they're, Mr. Magic this and they're cute.
12:52And I got baby body because I've got two kids.
12:56I felt insecure to say the least.
12:59There were some friends there that knew it was a strip club and never told me.
13:04It was the best kept secret that anybody could keep from a person.
13:09My name is Kenneth Beatty.
13:14They call me the wolf.
13:16What's going on?
13:19Back in the early 80s, Magic was the security guard, the bartender, the waiter and the DJ.
13:28I was a bank robber back then.
13:33It was a long time ago, like in 85.
13:36I was in the street doing my thing.
13:40I was trying to get away from the policeman.
13:42So I said, well, okay, I got to duck off until the heat get down.
13:47So I wind up popping right down here in Magic City.
13:51And I came in, you know, we sit at the bar having drinks and all of a sudden you just start hearing bamming on the door.
13:57Bam, bam, bam, bam.
13:59It was a fist and they came in and laid both of us down.
14:02And I was like, wait a minute, man.
14:04Y'all got me, man.
14:05That man ain't got nothing to do with this.
14:08This was the first time I ever met him.
14:10First time I ever met him.
14:12So they handcuffed me, took me out of here.
14:16From that day forward, we just been cool.
14:19He looked out for me, made sure that I was okay.
14:21He checked on me, got me a lawyer.
14:24He's always been a friend.
14:25When I came back, Magic City was just crazy.
14:29Everybody just gravitated toward it.
14:31It held its own.
14:33Magic City's not the first gentlemen's club that's in the city.
14:37It's the first gentlemen's club to elevate what happens inside the club.
14:41Mr. Magic wanted Magic City to have the best of everything.
14:47Best food, the best environment, and the best women.
14:51The other clubs, we'd catch a pretty girl every now and then, but they couldn't get them in abundance.
14:57Just kept on hustling.
14:59Just trying to get a squad of nice looking women.
15:01And I just used to think if you could put it all together, people would come.
15:16What makes a Magic City dance a poppin?
15:20What makes a woman powerful?
15:24Let's be clear.
15:26Magic City may have been Big Magic's fantasy.
15:29But baby, this is our shit.
15:37Okay?
15:38Now back to the story.
15:50I never did this before and I'm just nervous.
15:52I'm scared.
15:55No, no, no.
15:56I say too much.
15:57Strawberry was the funniest person in the whole wide world in the club.
16:01She was our comedian.
16:03Clap, mama.
16:05She used to be loud.
16:06How's your body to ya?
16:08Have you ever told any of these stories before?
16:10No.
16:12Okay.
16:14Let me have some wine.
16:16Let's start from the beginning.
16:18My friend was like, well, we gonna go to Magic City and try to get a job.
16:23Didn't know what Magic City was.
16:25So we went over there and they took us downstairs to talk to Magic.
16:30He asked us our names.
16:32I said, well, my name is Cherry.
16:34He was like, well, I already got a cherry.
16:37You gotta think of another fruit like a strawberry.
16:38You know how he talks.
16:40Strawberry.
16:42She done well.
16:44She was a hustler.
16:45She started something new when she used to bring more customers than most girls could get.
16:50I had a certain trick that I do.
16:52I can't say it on TV.
16:55You gotta leave that up to your imagination on what it could have been.
16:59And that was another new phase.
17:02You had your girls recruiting and trying to bring money in.
17:05Platinum.
17:06My alter ego.
17:07Because I had to defend Sonya.
17:10Sonya's real sweet and giving.
17:11But Platinum was a beast and don't mess with her.
17:15That's all I can say about that.
17:17At that time, other states was just topless when Atlanta was new.
17:22In Michigan, we call them titty bars.
17:25And so down here, they call them pussy clubs.
17:26Yeah, they don't.
17:30So the adult clubs in Atlanta all went nude because in 1970, a play called Hair made its way to Atlanta.
17:41And it features the actors standing nude on stage.
17:46The prosecutor wrote a letter saying if they came out nude, they would be arrested.
17:51A federal judge ruled that not only was nudity not obscenity, but it could be performed anywhere.
17:59The Atlanta strip clubs went from topless to nude the next day and have stayed that way since.
18:06When I first came, they was very intimidating because I had never seen pretty women comfortable with being nude and stuff.
18:18The first time I was in Magic City, I was intimidated because I was like 97 pounds in an A cup.
18:23And I felt like to be a dancer in the South, you got to be like big booty, big thigh, thicky thicky.
18:30I danced a little bit and then I took my clothes off and turned around like they asked me to.
18:38Body check.
18:39The average woman might think that the job of an entertainer is oh so easy.
18:50That is, until you got to get that body check.
18:53And a body check is exactly what it sounds like.
18:55They check your body.
18:58You strip naked, do a 360 and they just look at you up and down.
19:01They turn down a lot of girls that come in here.
19:05They want to see what you're looking like because, I mean, essentially you're going to be naked in some heels.
19:10When you come to Magic City, these girls in here are serving one thing and that's body-ody-ody.
19:16The first five years were tough. You had to just keep trying to get people. It just took time.
19:41But by 89, superstars just showed up.
19:46Dominique, when you were drafted out of the University of Georgia over there in Athens, first round pick, straight into Atlanta and, you know, I was the happiest human being.
19:57Dominique was like the biggest thing that hit Atlanta.
20:01Dominique was a god in the city.
20:03As a young person, just make you say, when and if I get to that point, I'm going to be just like him.
20:07Dominique brought a little fire to the clubs, to out in the street, you know, just a different type of chatter.
20:13Man, when I tell you, the money, the doggone, the notoriety, just lit the land up.
20:21So what do y'all want to know?
20:26I think what I brought to Magic City, a little excitement. We took off.
20:36Dominique was just real cool. I used to gamble with his mother.
20:39I remember platinum.
20:40He was like a big brother.
20:42A big brother.
20:43All their dancers came to our games.
20:45Oh, it was a party.
20:47Then they started bringing other players.
20:49Magic City was our sixth man.
20:51And what I mean by that is that we could send them guys over there to hang out.
20:55Magic City would wear them out.
20:56The next night, they had no shot of beating us.
21:00But there were certain guys that could hang out all night at Magic City and it wouldn't face them.
21:04Magic, Johnson.
21:06Man, Magic Johnson was a beast.
21:08Yeah, we would go the night before the games.
21:11Go there and over party.
21:14Man, I remember the time that I was contract renegotiating.
21:21I'm in there and I had one of them big dope man cell phones.
21:24I wanted everybody to know it's me.
21:26So it's ringing.
21:28Hey, man, where you at?
21:30I'm out. What's happening?
21:31I need you to come to the hotel right now.
21:33Wow, what's up?
21:34I need you to sign this contract.
21:36Bro, we can't do it tomorrow because it's cracking.
21:39And I got something going on.
21:42He's like, no, I can't wait till tomorrow.
21:44I was like, why not?
21:45We're going to make you the first $100 million player.
21:48I'm like, what?
21:50That's when I signed the $120 million contract.
21:53I've never told that story before, but I was actually in Magic City having a good time.
21:57History was made that night.
22:00I remember he was kind of wild.
22:02But you know how many stars came through that door?
22:05In Magic, the day shift, I look up to the corner.
22:09That's Charles Oakley and Michael Jordan.
22:12Oh, shit.
22:14I said, hey, what's up, MJ?
22:16My name's Tip.
22:17They call me Ti.
22:18I reached my hand out.
22:19He reached his hand out.
22:20Damn.
22:22Knocked his cigar out of his hand.
22:27So he looked down at the cigar.
22:31I looked down at the cigar.
22:32We looked back up at each other.
22:34We looked back at the cigar.
22:36And I'm thinking, I know he don't think I'm finna pick this cigar.
22:41My brother, Phil, picked it up.
22:43There you go, MJ.
22:44And then him and Phil went back into VIP, and they started drinking and hanging.
22:49He ain't gonna get back to that no more.
22:50You know what I mean?
22:51That was a moment in time.
22:53You'll never see anything like that.
22:56That type of interaction with the nightlife and professional sports.
23:02There are a lot of misconceptions, stereotypes, and stigmas that come along with dancing.
23:17You hear the most negative things from people who've never even been inside Magic City.
23:21People who've only seen movies where the strippers are prostitutes or drug addicted.
23:26And they run with what all strip clubs must be like.
23:29But they never saw it for themselves.
23:32In all instances, we all have our own story.
23:39I work to help at home, but...
23:43Music made me feel so free.
23:46I didn't even look at nothing.
23:49The way the club was then, it was like mirrors all over.
23:53And so we could see ourselves.
23:59And if you liked it or not, I don't care.
24:05They started dancing because they needed to take care of their parents or their children or their siblings.
24:12I dreamed of this life a long time ago.
24:15And coming to Magic, it was magical.
24:19I don't have a high school diploma or any type of college degrees, but I have a doctorate in strip.
24:24Because that was my university. And I learned a lot.
24:26And I learned a lot.
24:27Oh, damn!
24:28She's been driving, pooping, broken.
24:29Oh, shit!
24:31She's been driving, pooping, broken.
24:32Oh, shit!
24:33Oh, shit!
24:34Oh, shit!
24:35Oh, shit!
24:36Oh, shit!
24:37Oh, shit!
24:38Oh, shit!
24:39Trace that!
24:40Hey!
24:41Trace that!
24:42Hey!
24:43Trace that!
24:44It's a real world over here.
24:50Outside of this world right here.
24:53They didn't really accept you over there.
24:56That world is devilish.
24:59Just period.
25:00Nobody walked around with a halo over their head now.
25:03There's something about Atlanta that understands the balance between the saint and the sinner.
25:10The balance is needed.
25:12Saints and sinners need one another.
25:14If you don't have these clubs, you never have the soil to grow the music industry that creates an outcast.
25:21If you don't have the so-so death Magic City marriage, do you ever get the hit records Money Ain't a Thing?
25:28How you doing? I'm Jermaine Dupree and I produce records, rap records.
25:32Magic City was like my movie office.
25:36Somebody comes in town and they have to go meet the Godfather at this place.
25:41Jermaine Dupree and guys like that, they elevated it to another level.
25:47I used to tell them though, when I felt the vibe, when this Magic City started getting out of control,
25:53it's gonna do us well if it doesn't kill us.
25:56I think the greatest time is in that era.
25:5990 to 96.
26:00That set the stage for whether we was gonna be a player-ass city,
26:04or was we gonna turn into some dark dumb gangster shit.
26:07If something's gonna hit you, it's just a matter of when.
26:12Magic City is more magical than Disney World.
26:14Magic City. Entertaining entertainers.
26:16I danced on stage with Prince.
26:18Look, there it is.
26:19What's about Magic City?
26:20Making money is cutthroat.
26:21There's always an offer you can't refuse.
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